GM moves some of its light truck production to Oshawa

A year ago, the time was a bewildering one at the GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario. The plant was preparing to stop production of the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac XTS, turning a chapter in its history. Times are changing rapidly, as less than a year later, GM announces that it is moving some of its pickup truck production to Oshawa.

The reason is simple; the American plants responsible for assembling the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra can't keep up with the ever-increasing demand.

This reality has allowed the Canadian Auto Workers Union, Unifor, to come to an agreement with the company. The three-year agreement includes a $1.3 billion investment in Oshawa, which will be used, among other things, to modernize the facility for vehicle production. Production will begin in January 2022. In addition to the 1500 versions of the Silverado and Sierra models, HD (Heavy Duty) variants will also be assembled in Ontario.

For the Oshawa plant, it's a real salvation, because since production ceased, only 300 employees had been retained, even though it had been agreed (GM and Unifor) that the plan would remain functional with the manufacture of components. However, we were far from the 2600 employees who were at work at the end of 2019.

The good news is that the two shifts that will be added in January 2022 will add between 1400 and 1700 workers to the workforce. Better yet, a third shift could be added in the summer of 2022, adding some 2,500 employees.

The Oshawa plant is sure to come back to life and, given the popularity of pickup trucks, it should not be idle anytime soon.